


Quills and frills

by LostinFic



Series: Any David Tennant character x Any Billie Piper character [7]
Category: Secret Diary of a Call Girl (TV), The Decoy Bride (2011)
Genre: Crossover Pairings, F/M, Ficlet, Not Shippy, Teninch Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 19:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6389887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostinFic/pseuds/LostinFic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James and Hannah both suffer from a bad case of writer’s block and meet at a creative writing seminar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quills and frills

Eight am classes were the very reason Hannah hadn’t finished her degree. Yet, here she was, ten years later, in class, at 8am. Mind you, they didn’t call them classes. Oh, no, it had to be something catchy: _Writer’s Boot Camp_. Urgh. She didn’t need help with writing, she needed more interesting clients. But there were only so many quirky people she could shag.

Hannah set her Venti skinny latte on the large conference table, and sat down with the other attendees. The man next to her looked like he’d dressed up in a writer’s costume with his scarf, floppy fringe, fancy pen and green tea. Her deep yawn attracted his attention.

“Bit early to get creative, innit?” she said.

“Early bird gets the worm,” he replied with a bright smile.

“I can see why you need help.”

“Sorry?”

“With clichés... No? Sorry, erm, so, that’s— that’s a nice notebook you have there, very nice notebook. Are we supposed to take notes?”

“Well, I suppose we will be writing at some point.”

“Right. I usually type, so.”

He gave a curt nod and turned away from her.

 _Sod_.

She took a closer look at him. She’d seen him somewhere before. Not a client, she hoped. She’d never quite figured out how to ask politely: “have you ever paid me for sex?”

The seminar started and the teacher asked everyone to introduce themselves. She recognized him then, James Arber, his photo hung in the waiting room of her editor’s office. So he’d been sent here too. Why did he look so smug for, then?

As a writing exercise, they were given various prompts to work on to practice free writing. (She had to borrow a pen from James.) Her ideas inevitably turned to sex, which was rather embarrassing when she had to share with the group. The teacher, however, praised her writing a little too much. She saw him come her way at the coffee break, and she avoided him by turning to James. They had the same editor, surely they could find a conversation topic to fill a ten-minute break.

“Oh, you’re the— you’re the prostitute.”

“The best-selling prostitute.”

“Well, anything salacious is bound to attract a certain popular readership. James Joyce wasn’t popular in his days, you know.”

“You publish a book with just one chapter in it, and you think you’re as revolutionary as Joyce!”

“Not as revolutionary but The Guardian called me one of the most promising authors of the decade.”

He adjusted his scarf with something like haughtiness.

“At least, I do my own research on the field, not on Google,” Hannah retorted.

“Uh, well, uh, fiction doesn’t have to be accurate,” he replied, jutting out his chin. “Better than the play-by-play of some pervert who gets off on pouring beans in your knickers.”

“You’ve read it!” Hannah grinned.

“No, I haven’t!”

“How else would you know about the beans?”

“I— I… my wife did.”

“Did she like it more than your book?” she teased.

“Well, considering I wrote my book to declare my love to her, I think it’s fair to say mine is her favourite.”

“Aaaww, it’s a true story? I thought the publisher had made it up.”

“No, no it’s true, it’s all true.”

He blushed and ran a hand through his hair. Hannah softened.

“I did like it, your novel. The second one, not the zoologist.”

“Ornithologist. No one likes that one.” He waved dismissively with a chuckle. “Chapter 12, in your book, I’d never read anything like it… we tried it—”

“I’m just going to stop you right there. Enough sharing.”

“Right, yeah, of course. Let’s go back to our seats, shall we?”


End file.
